School bus hits mother, child in Schenectady

School bus hits mother, child in Schenectady

A school bus with children aboard struck a woman Wednesday on State Street in Schenectady.

Photographer: MARC SCHULTZ

SCHENECTADY — A school bus with children aboard struck a woman and one of her children Wednesday afternoon on State Street, according to Schenectady police.

The bus appeared to be turning right onto State Street from Cromer Avenue at about 3 p.m. when it hit the woman. She had three young children with her at the time, according to witness Julia Padilla, who was inside La Mexicana Restaurant and Grocery when the accident happened. La Mexicana is on the corner of State and Cromer.

Padilla said she saw the bus stopped and ran out to see what happened. When she got there, she saw the woman underneath the bus.

"It took them a while for them to get her out of there," Padilla said.

Padilla said one of the woman's children said her face hurt, and she appeared to have a tire mark on her face, Padilla said.

Padilla estimated the children who were with the woman were between ages 2 and 5.

"They were very small and didn't really realize what was going on," Padilla said. "But I reassured them that everything was going to be OK."

Police said the woman, whose identity was not available Wednesday evening, suffered injuries to her legs. Paramedics took her to Albany Medical Center for treatment. Police did not describe the injuries to the child, but said none of the injuries are believed life-threatening.

Several children remained on the bus during the emergency response, Padilla said.

"Some of them were crying," she said. "I can imagine if I was a little kid on a bus and somebody got hit."

The bus is owned and operated by Brown Transportation and was transporting students to Bishop Gibbons and Brown School on behalf of the city school district at the time of the incident, according to Schenectady school district spokeswoman Karen Corona.

In all, seven students were on the bus at the time, Corona said. Their parents were called. Some parents responded to the scene to pick up their children. The others were transferred to another bus to be taken home.

Traffic on State Street was briefly rerouted for the incident. Police reopened both lanes after the initial response was complete but moved the traffic around the school bus, which remained in place Wednesday afternoon.

Police investigating the incident checked nearby businesses for surveillance footage of the incident. A city surveillance camera could also be seen about a block from where the accident happened.